Warriors wear down Rockets

Ridgedale stays close to unbeaten Harvest Prep, but comes up a little short

Mar. 8, 2007

Ridgedale junior J.R. Weston take advantage of the screen by teammate Levi Lutz to move around Harvest Prep defender Dane Givner during first-half action of the Division IV Central District semifinal on Wednesday at the Columbus Fairgrounds Coliseum. The Rockets stayed close for much of the game, but fell 72-59. / For The Marion Star/Ed Borland

The Rockets hit only 20 of 48 field goal tries, canned just 14-of-23 from the foul line, were outrebounded 29-23, and committed 22 turnovers in the contest.

Yet, with just over 7 minutes remaining in the game in the Columbus Fairgrounds Coliseum, they trailed by only three points at 53-50 to the now 20-0 Warriors.

On top of that, Harvest Prep coach Mike Thornton instructed his players at that juncture of the game to hold the ball in an attempt to draw Ridgedale out of a zone defense that had muffled the Warriors.

"We were concerned at that point, but then I realized by holding the ball we were playing into their hands," Thornton said.

Ridgedale coach Ben Snively was happy to see Harvest Prep stalling.

"We wanted to let them run the clock," Snively said. "I was thinking, if we can run this until about the 2-minute mark, we'd have a chance in a shorter game. But that's not the style they play and coach Thornton recognized that."

With Harvest Prep changing gears to attack the basket, the Warriors held a 19-9 scoring edge over the final minutes to secure a berth in a district championship game against second-seeded Worthington Christian (20-4) on Saturday night.

"I feared their athleticism would take over, and that's what happened," Snively said.

Six-foot-six senior Marquis Mathis led the Warrior charge in the fourth quarter with 10 points, four of them coming on dunks. Several of his markers came after crisp passes from his teammates.

"Everyone on our team wanted to move the ball and keep Ridgedale occupied and out of their zone," Mathis said.

"Mathis was the difference," Snively said. "We don't play many teams with a 6-6 kid who plays around the rim. That's a different game for us."

Harvest Prep's up-tempo game, which several times this season produced 90 or more points in a contest, finally subdued a pesky Ridgedale team.

The style employed by Ridgedale (14-10) in the first three quarters had dreams of a huge upset dancing in the heads of Rocket fans.

Even though they missed 13 of their first 16 shots from the floor, the Rockets trailed by only one point early in the second period and then tied the game at 20 on a 3-pointer by Logan Dunn.

The teams traded runs of points to close that stanza. A 9-0 Harvest Prep burst was answered by Ridgedale's 13-4 edge to close the quarter and the sixth-seeded Rockets were tied with the Warriors 33-33 at the intermission.

Eight costly Ridgedale turnovers in the third period helped Harvest Prep to a 53-46 advantage following three quarters, but Ridgedale used baskets by Kyle Rose and Levi Lutz to begin the fourth period to draw to within three at 53-50.

From then on, however, the pace of the game and eventually the decision belonged to Harvest Prep.

Mathis paced Harvest Prep with 25 points and eight rebounds.

J.R. Weston tallied 17 points for the Rockets, while Lutz and Dunn each scored 11 and Rose added eight. Lutz totaled seven rebounds and four steals. Dunn produced three steals and three assists, and Ricky Jackson dealt out three assists.

Snively said he was very proud of a Ridgedale team that put up a mighty fight before being knocked out of the tourney very late in the contest.

"Eventually they just wore us down in rebounding, and toward the end they made some great passes," Snively said. "When they started to dunk the ball off of those passes late in the game, it was time to turn out the lights in the old barn."